Gathering professions have
always been the simplest and turned the
quickest profit for most MMORPG's. In Aion, not only can
everyone do
it no matter what profession they choose, but it's required to complete
some quests unless you enjoy purchasing it from some entrepreneur
running a private shop next to the quest giver for way more than it's
worth. If you ever plan on cooking, smithing, alchemy,
handicrafting,
or tailoring... wait, that's everything. If you plan on doing
a trade
skill period, leveling your Vitality Extraction is extremely
important. Often times the only thing that cannot be gathered
in a
great piece of gear are the respective Fluxes, the rest you can supply
with zero cost if you stick with your extraction skills. You
can check
out my Aether Extraction guides if you prefer to suck the life from the
skies rather than the ground.

It's time to show those stupid plants who is boss. Here we go!

General
Tips

- If you're looking for specific
rare elements, like Crystals,
Rose Quartz, and other gems you may want to invest in a detection
helmet from your Extraction training room in Pandaemonium.
They're not
cheap, but they can help when you're running circuits for rare
materials to know if things are up from a long distance.
These can be
awfully expensive, so check the broker for them used first.

- Clear out your damn inventory! Bank everything you can when
you
can do it at outposts. Later on there are 3 types of ore you
can get
from each typical node (Shining Vortexes, Adamantite, Platinum are just
a few) so you will need as much space as you can get if you plan on
gathering as you grind, or just gathering period. Plants can
produce
fresh/high quality versions, and even some like Kirka will very rarely
produce dyes for your equipment.

- Even if you don't skill up off it, gather the high demand
items. Everyone will need the various metal ores.
Tecoma logs go for
over 1,000 each on Israphel at the moment. Never vendor your
goods,
always check the broker to see what you can sell your stash for if you
don't plan on cooking or mixing it up later.

1-45

Fish for Conide around the
Altgard fortress if your skill isn't at
least 20 already from your time before ascension, and loot Azpha
liberally from the Moslan Forest to the west of the Altgard Fortress to
get you started. Once you've got those in abundance, switch
to Iron
and Tecoma Logs, at 15 and 20 skill respectively. These are
the staple
ingredients for 1-100 handicrafting and both smithing, so gather as
much as you can for your own use or for a profit. This should
take you
to 45 without any trouble.

45-75

Gribade Crater Lake is where it's at for this segment.
Kandula is
in abundance all around the NPCs and there is even a quest to turn in
15 nearby. Once you hit 55, switch it up
and fish in the lake as
well. There are many fish spawns and very few people actually fish
here. From here, you have two options depending on how high
you are in level.

Kandula can also be used to
create mana potions, which are
infinitely useful for most classes as they grind, so a profit option is
here as well.

If you're still in your teens and keeping your vitality extraction
high enough to level with you, Gribade Canyon is your ticket.
They're
hidden away amidst the enemies, but a plethora of 75 skill plants are
here and your only good option to break into the 90s. Once
you've
accomplished that, head down to Impetusium and welcome to
paradise.
TONS of 80-90 gathering here. Take it to 99, upgrade, and I'd
say take
it to 110 here before moving on to Morheim or beyond.

Cooks will benefit the most
from this option if you're looking for a variety of dishes to level on.

75-99 Option
2 - I'm already level 25 or higher and skipped this early on because
gathering sucks and oh god how do I harvest Azpha.

It's Horto time. You might recall that Brusthonin farms are
absolutely covered in plants, which also produce a rare item from time
to time for a repeatable quest. First stop is on the Polluted
waste
just north of the portal in, and loot to your heart's
content. The
enemies are aggressive but as long as you're tough enough to take two
on at once, this is by far your best option. There are tons
of
extraction points in a small area, so live it up. You might
make a
fair bit of Kinah on the repeatable quest in the process as well.

Horto can then be turned around and cooked into maximum HP up food,
great for PvP and tanks.

Bam! Extraction level 1 is maxed out, and all it takes is a
little
effort and a lot of right clicking. You can try to make
maximum profit
by turning the raw materials into workable goods like Ingots and Wood
for the respective skill-ups in the trades if you haven't started them
already. Now that you've taken it to level 99 though, the
curve is
going to get tougher. The distance between levels is going to
increase
a bit, and competition for good spots will be intense as
well. But you
need not worry! I'll take you through the 100-199 range
soon. Now get
out there and saturate the Iron market.

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